Proteomics

Overview

The term “Proteome”, coined in the 1990’s, describes the entire protein content in a cell, tissue, or bodily fluids, at any given time. Proteomics is thus defined as the global study of proteins. At the CPGR, this includes the investigation of protein structure, expression and interaction on a system-wide scale.

Proteomics at the CPGR

The task of studying the Proteome comes with a unique set of challenges. One is based on the sheer number of proteins that can, in principle, be identified. The 23,000 genes in the human genome can code for at least ten times as many proteins; in extreme cases a single gene alone can code for over 1,000 proteins. Additionally, there’s a dynamic range of proteins found in biological samples, as well as numerous post-translational modifications.

Proteomic technologies play a key role in discovery approaches in the post-Genomics era. Based on the advances that have been made in the field of mass spectrometry (MS) in particular, MS-based biomarker discovery plays an increasingly critical role in diagnostics and drug development.